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Tuesday, 24 January 2017

Thought I was only painting fantasy? Wrong! It was more Alpha Legion deception! Fresh recruits for Alpharius...

These fantasy diversions have been fun, but I can't forget my main focus for this edition of the AHPC - and that is getting 30k stuff done. This submission includes a squad of five tactical support marines carrying specialized energy weapons and three tactical marines carrying their standard boltguns. The models are plastics from GW's "Betrayal at Calth" set, with some add-ons and transfers from Forge World.

Tactical support squad with plasma guns

Comms trooper on left, vexillary on the right

I love the little read-out screen on the comms trooper

The so-called Tactical Support Squads carry various specialized weapons to provide some heavy firepower alongside the regular rank and file marines. These particular troops are carrying plasma guns, energy weapons which are useful is carving up armoured targets. In the Horus Heresy, the opponent is often another Marine, so these weapons will come in handy in situations where even the heavily armoured witnesses need to be dealt with...

Customized bits from Forge World...expensive, but lovely sculpts

Some detail on the back packs

The three tactical Marines are just extras from the first two tactical squads. Adding these three models frees up some of the "beakies" I had previously painted to form their own small seperate unit if I feel like it.

These models are just a ton of fun to paint, very well done by GW. And I know it is a silly expense to incur, but I also love the accent packages from Forge World. The sculptors hit it out of the park, and sprinkling the custom bits throughout the units is a lot of fun, and I'm thrilled with how they have turned out.

#Horus4Hope taking shape...

Every so often it is fun to put a group shot of the progress so far. This is the Alpha Legion group that has been completed to date - 31 marines so far! This could even represent a bare-bones force on the table. They will need some support - vehicles, maybe dreadnoughts...or just more infantry. We'll see what comes next!

The Chaplain urges you to feel the love...

This particular submission includes five 28mm figures, so that should be another 40 points towards my target. See you all next week!

Alan and Paul: Scraping in just in time for the end of Tuesday, here's another great bunch of GW minis. You have managed to give a stylish nod to both ends of the GW universe time line today - nice work! I must say, these are some of the nicest Space Marines (registered trademark) I've seen. I really like the slightly muted blue you've used, as well as all the details. See you next week!

Since I reconnected with my old Warmaster stuff last week, I wanted to make more progress this week before moving back to other things. The Empire forces in the Warmaster game are built around crossbowman and halberdiers, so I added some more of these basic units. This submission includes two more units of crossbowmen and another unit of halberdiers.

The provinces of the Empire have different colours to set them apart, but as I started to work once again on these figures two weeks ago, I noticed I had selected a palette of blue and green which seemed to match...no particular province. Maybe I had something in mind when I first started painting these like 12 years ago? Who knows?

No matter! It's a fantasy game after all. So for the crossbowmen I just used variants of blue and green uniforms with a dab of red here and there, and popped some bright colours on the feathers to help tell them apart on the battlefield.

Empire crossbows - blue clothing, red feathers...

Perhaps the elector count fielding these troops has access to animals with a lot of different-coloured feathers...or maybe there is just a lot of coloured dye in his province...

More crossbows...green and blue this time, with yellow feathers

For the Halberdiers, I wanted to change the colours a bit. There is one particular province in the fictional Empire - Hochland - which interests me (connected to another hobby project, blah, blah, not interesting at this point). Their colours are red and green, which make me think of Christmas, so that's nice! It would also look suitably different from the blue and green. A large Empire force in Warmaster would have troops raised from several provinces anyways, I expect, so good to have some different colours into the mix. I tried them out on this unit.

Halberdiers of Hochland

The red and green are a fun colour mix, one I hope to repeat on a couple more of the units as I continue to expand the overall force.

I love these little sculpts - total home run by GW...

These castings are some of the best work GW ever did. Painting the Halberdiers in particular is just a great treat, with all sorts of character and small details. They are a total joy to paint. Getting back to these figures has been like reconnecting with an old friend. It has been so much fun!

Ready to defend the Empire! One poor chap in the rear rank had his halberd break off..hopefully doesn't stand out in the unit

The overall Empire force is a good basic size now - four regiments of halberdiers, four units of crossbows, two regiments of Knights and some artillery. On reflection, I think I need some more Knights...there is always more, and no project is ever truly "finished" :)

A good basic force of Halberdiers for the Empire

My Empire army continues to grow...those Knights are kind of lonely now...and you can see there is still room for more...

That's 84 10mm infantry figures in this submission, which should get me 84 points - and hopefully past the half way mark toward my 1000 point goal!

Alan and Paul: That is such a great looking army! They really look like a labour of love, and your colour choice and basing makes each figure stand out brilliantly. Have an extra point for the flag.

As I had thought the time keeps getting away and I am just not sure I will make my quota of points. Alas life has a habit of getting in the way of one's preferred hobby. After spending time moving my daughter back into home and cleaning out her flat it has left the toys on the desk sans paint. But still I was able to complete this little lot a week or two ago. Next in line will be some Swiss, I hope.

This is a lovely miniature from the old metal Malifaux range called an Austringer. I painted it up for my son as a Christmas present only to give it to him oh a week ago because I had not done it in time for Christmas.

the Eagle is pretty big on the guys arm and in the game this is his "weapon"

PSC Churchill done as the AVRE with the enormous flying dustbin gun

In this hobby you get the chance to meet some great people. I have little skill with wood and thus get others to help me build terrain, cut bases etc. A friend has built me over time 2 brilliant little Horsa gliders out of wood in 15mm scale. He even based one crashed for me and I had always hoped to return the favour. And thus a small group of 8 dark age minis for his Saga warband. He plays Irish and Byzantines in the game and so I thought these two groups of 4 would make either 2 X Hearthguard or 1 X Warriors. Please note Dux the hand painted shields. (did not have any decals)

The guys on the left could even make nice command miniatures for the game and a flag on the right would make this chap a nifty little standard bearer.

PSC firefly again no decals, I am on the hunt for some allied stars at least when I go to the next games convention.

Bog standard Sherman V, I left stowage off this one as I have read enough about the battles in Normandy to appreciate the Shermans did not survive terribly long against the 75mm guns of the Germans and thus replacements were often quickly brought forward.

And so ends one more post attempting to reach the quota. Points.......9 X 5 for the 28mm and 3 X 12 for the 20mm Tanks. 81? Must pick up the paint brush this week. The Swiss are beckoning.

Alan and Paul: I have no idea what Malifaux is like as a game, but some of their figures are just great. You have done a lovely job on this one. It warms the cockles of my heart to see hand painted shields, as it does to see a Churchill AVRE, so their is lots to love about this entry. 81 points to you, plus one for the tank commaders, one for the eagle and one for the shields.

I'll be taking my newly painted Norse team to compete in the Blood Bowl competition. The team (by Roll Jordan) comes with three figures for use as casualty markers for when (not if) my Snow Troll plans go pear-shaped. Here's the Snow Troll (not an AHPC entry)- he's big, on a 40mm base.

And here he is when he's Really Stupid:

And knocked down:

And Stunned:

These fun figures are quite practical- they save me having to lie my painted figure down in a square that is too small for him!

Alan and Paul: Ha! - these figures are heaps of fun. I've never played Blood Bowl, but looking at figures like this makes me want to give it a go. Good luck at Cancon, and may you never have to use the Troll Being Stupid. That's 15 points, with a couple more for the size of the beasts.EDIT: Having seen the size of these figures, we have adjusted the points to reflect how massive they are.

This week has seen a continuation of my adventure into 15mm gaming with my second platoon of WW2 Germans as well as doubling the armored might of my US Team Yankee force. As a 28mm person for most of my gaming career I will say I am enjoying 15mm, both painting and playing and will look to do more into the future.

Flames of War Platoon of plastic 15mm Germans and two Pak 40's - 86 Points

This is my second platoon of three that I have set myself to do this challenge and being plastic are really nice to paint. I am still learning how to paint 15mm and figure it will take me a few armies to get to know most of the tricks. This force will be used for post D-Day themes games.

Team Yankee - M1A1's, ITV's and VADS - 45 Points.

I am really enjoying playing Team Yankee at the moment and I think it is a mixture of simplified game play as well as the subject matter. I grew up in the age of the cold war and Tom Clancy books and playing these scenarios is just such a blast for me. All these miniatures are from Battlefront and are just top notch kits.

The VADS are an M113 based Vulcan Air Defense System and is used in game to give some AA cover to the other forces. Unfortunately the writers forgot to put in an AA missile system so these guys form the only AA defense the US currently has.

The ITV is an Improvised TOW Vehicles and is a real tank killer. It can't fire on the move and is a classic glass canon but has great hitting power and sensational range.

The M1A1 Abrams is such an iconic vehicle and these boost my force to a total of 12.

Overall a productive week with the bonus round factored in and I am happy with my progress.

Alan and Paul: Cracking stuff Patch! Love the Germans, and the way you have even done the Waffenfarbe on their shoulder straps, but the US are my favourite. Great camo painting. I count 37 infantry figures, two guns and 9 vehicles, for a total of 136 points, plus another one for the tank commanders. Great work!

Just a small contribution this week, the final squad for my Bolt Action force. I've tried to take better pics to show the Oak Leaf came scheme better.

These figures are Warlords from the German Grenadiers box, and I went for the Oak Leaf as slightly easier to paint than Pea Dot, as well as seasonally correct for the later period of the Normandy campaign where my force is set.

I base coated the smocks in MournFang Brown then used Skrag brown for the final base colour, which is a lot lighter than it may have looked for real, but for gaming at a distance it should allow the camo to stand out a little better. Similarly, I used Luftwaffe Camo Green, then Sick Green (an old GW bright Green) for the leaf pattern.

So 7 figures, a modest 35 pts, but at least my lads are ready for battle now :-)

Paul & Alan: Great job with that oak leaf camo scheme James, it can be tricky to do complex schemes in small scales but you've pulled off the right effects overall I think. And finished just in time for CanCon too!

35 points toward your total. I hope they bring you luck in this weekend's Bolt Action tourney and that they dont succumb too often to the curse of newly painted miniatures...